SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/Bill/Desktop/DIGITAL%20COMMON%20PLANNING%20TIME.doc DIGITAL COMMON PLANNING TIME (DCPT)
PRE-PRODUCTION PLAN
Authorship Team: Pat Murtagh (Speech Pathologist)/ Susan Unger (K-8 Science Teacher) http://youtu.be/5juTgginM-Y
Purpose: To use technology to improve communication and collaboration among staff in order to facilitate planning and implementation of IEPs, i.e. digital common planning time (CPT), as a first step to better community collaboration
Compelling question: How can we improve communication and collaboration among special education staff at Scituate Middle and High Schools?
Target Audience: Special Education Staff consisting of 10 Teachers
Community: Scituate Middle and High Schools, Scituate, RI
Genre or Form of Message/ Key Content:
Twitter: Platform for urgent or last-minute messages among teachers
Wikispace: Digital space for posting of meeting and administrative information
Google Form- Method of surveying opinions of teachers to evaluate DCPT
Google will be used to analyze survey results; data will be tranferred to a spreadsheet.
Google Docs- Digital space to share confidential student reports
Google Calendar: Digital platform to post meetings
Key content:
Message to Special Education staff (will be posted in Wikispace and reinforced in an in-service training):
We have often been subject to time and scheduling constraints when attempting to update other staff members about changes in curricula and schedules. This is frustrating for us and impacts the quality of education that we can offer to special education students. Digital common planning time (DCPT) is offered with the intention of easing this burden by providing digital communication and collaboration tools that can be used along with our face-to-face common planning time.
Value statement comes directly from the Mission Statements of both schools:
Scituate Middle & High School Mission Statement: Scituate Middle School is committed to producing life-long learners by providing all students and academically challenging integrated curriculum in partnership with the community within a safe and respectful environment while supporting their unique educational, physical, emotional and social needs.
Creative techniques will be utilized to address current problems and provide solutions as listed below:
Problem
Solution
Conflicting schedules make it difficult or impossible to have face-to-face common planning time
Teachers can input feedback on Wikispace and/or twitter to keep other staff members informed of curricular changes and best teaching practices; teachers can input confidential information using shared documents Google drive
Parti-time and shared staff have additional time constraints as compared to full-time staff
Twitter can be beneficial for last-minute and urgent information with regard to curricular changes
Overall, time-management issues impact the process of evaluating and responding to an IEP in a timely way which compromises the quality of education in special needs children
Google drive will provide a forum for the digital sharing of confidential information in a timely manner, giving teachers the opportunity to reflect and respond. Google calendar would benefit both full and part time staff to address time-management issues and scheduling concerns.
DIGITAL LITERACY INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
Innovative Instructional Plan (Contextual Overview)
Teachers use common planning time to (a) tailor curriculum to the needs of students, (b) coordinate efforts for integrating cross-curricular projects, and (c) manage efforts with regard to discipline and motivation of students, among other uses. Common planning time is often compromised because of budgetary restrictions and scheduling conflicts of faculty members.
Our innovative concept, Digital Common Planning Time (DCPT), overcomes some of the difficulty surrounding adequate scheduling of common planning time by allowing real-time communication of faculty even if they are in two or more locations. We compiled and adapted digital products (see the following list) to facilitate communication of meetings, curricular updates, last-minute changes in schedule and curriculum, and exchange of confidential information. We also designed a way to assess which of these digital products needs to be adapted or eliminated to best serve the needs of the faculty serving special education students in Scituate Middle and High Schools.
Lesson Plan Template
Pat Murtagh
Susan Unger
Learners: One MS special ed teacher, part-time
One school psychologist (MS/HS), part-time
Three MS special ed teacher, full-time
One Speech Language Pathologist (MS/HS), full-time
Three special ed teachers (HS), full-time
One special ed teacher (HS), part-time
Self: Creators of this project-based Inquiry include a speech pathologist and a science middle school teacher. We value communication and collaboration as a priority in education. We value and respect all staff members. We are seeking a way, through the use of digital initiatives, to optimize teamwork with a goal of implementing the mission of the school.
Context: Digital Common Planning Time (DCPT) is a concept that arose from a lack of communication and collaboration among the special education staff at Scituate Middle School/High School. Special Education staff members lacked common planning time, which resulted in the following problems:
Lack of preparation for staff and parent meetings
Inability to communicate important curricular information in a timely fashion to staff members and parents
Lack of responsiveness and reflection in the development of quality IEP plans
Inadequate opportunity for scheduling of meetings due to inaccessibility of part-time staff and heavy class loads
Community: Scituate Middle and High Schools, located in one building in a rural setting
Purpose: Special education staff (faculty-learners) will improve common planning practices through the use of digital technology. Successful completion of Phase One of DCPT will include the following objectives:
Faculty-learners will be proficient in posting non-confidential information on a common Wikispace
Faculty-learners will be proficient in posting meetings and other pertinent events on a Google Calendar
Faculty-learners will be proficient in the use of Twitter to communicate last-minute information to other faculty members
Faculty-learners will be proficient in sharing confidential documents on Google Drive
Faculty-learners will be proficient in completing an evaluation form for the purpose of assessing and possibly revising DCPT tools
Standards: Special education staff uses a universal mission statement as a standard for professional behavior. The mission statement addresses collaboration and communication as a method for accomplishing educational vision and student goals.
Scituate Middle & High School Mission Statement: Scituate Middle School is committed to producing life-long learners by providing all students and academically challenging integrated curriculum in partnership with the community within a safe and respectful environment while supporting their unique educational, physical, emotional and social needs.
TASK/ACTIVITY: Staff will be asked to
Attend an in-service to become proficient in DCPT
Upload confidential information to Google Docs and share with appropriate staff
Use shared Google Calendar to post meetings/events and stay informed of upcoming events
Upload appropriate information to a shared Wikispace on an as-needed basis, using a “Think, Care, and Share” model
Tweet last-minute changes in student/staff scheduling or curricula expectations on an as-needed basis
Fill out Google Form “DCPT Evaluation” quarterly to assess and revise DCPT
CONTENT: The traditional model of common planning time consists of scheduling blocks of time in which teachers collaborate with the purpose of ensuring best teaching practices. Budget constraints and scheduling difficulties with part-time and shared staff present a barrier for this goal. DCPT will be offered as a solution to this problem. After DCPT is implemented, it will be evaluated for effectiveness and ease of use. Digital tools listed above can be used as a supplement to existing common planning time as well as an alternative for staff members who are not included in common planning time periods.
PEDAGOGY:
Wikispace for staff collaboration and communication (www.dcpt.wikispaces.com) has been created on July 17, 2013 at 5:19 p.m.
Twitter group is designated by #dcpthelper for quick last-minute posts from staff regarding schedule and curricular changes
Google calendar and Google Docs accounts were set up for the gmail account dcpthelper@gmail.com and will be shared with other special ed staff members.
ASSESSMENTS
Google Form will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of DCPT at the end of each quarter. All staff members will be asked to complete the survey on Google Form. Results of the survey will be compiled by Google analyze. Revisions to DCPT will be made if necessary. dcpt evaluation
DIGITAL COMMON PLANNING TIME (DCPT)
PRE-PRODUCTION PLAN
Authorship Team: Pat Murtagh (Speech Pathologist)/ Susan Unger (K-8 Science Teacher)
http://youtu.be/5juTgginM-Y
Purpose: To use technology to improve communication and collaboration among staff in order to facilitate planning and implementation of IEPs, i.e. digital common planning time (CPT), as a first step to better community collaboration
Compelling question: How can we improve communication and collaboration among special education staff at Scituate Middle and High Schools?
Target Audience: Special Education Staff consisting of 10 Teachers
Community: Scituate Middle and High Schools, Scituate, RI
Genre or Form of Message/ Key Content:
Key content:
Message to Special Education staff (will be posted in Wikispace and reinforced in an in-service training):
We have often been subject to time and scheduling constraints when attempting to update other staff members about changes in curricula and schedules. This is frustrating for us and impacts the quality of education that we can offer to special education students. Digital common planning time (DCPT) is offered with the intention of easing this burden by providing digital communication and collaboration tools that can be used along with our face-to-face common planning time.
Value statement comes directly from the Mission Statements of both schools:
Scituate Middle & High School Mission Statement: Scituate Middle School is committed to producing life-long learners by providing all students and academically challenging integrated curriculum in partnership with the community within a safe and respectful environment while supporting their unique educational, physical, emotional and social needs.
Creative techniques will be utilized to address current problems and provide solutions as listed below:
DIGITAL LITERACY INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
Innovative Instructional Plan (Contextual Overview)
Teachers use common planning time to (a) tailor curriculum to the needs of students, (b) coordinate efforts for integrating cross-curricular projects, and (c) manage efforts with regard to discipline and motivation of students, among other uses. Common planning time is often compromised because of budgetary restrictions and scheduling conflicts of faculty members.
Our innovative concept, Digital Common Planning Time (DCPT), overcomes some of the difficulty surrounding adequate scheduling of common planning time by allowing real-time communication of faculty even if they are in two or more locations. We compiled and adapted digital products (see the following list) to facilitate communication of meetings, curricular updates, last-minute changes in schedule and curriculum, and exchange of confidential information. We also designed a way to assess which of these digital products needs to be adapted or eliminated to best serve the needs of the faculty serving special education students in Scituate Middle and High Schools.
Lesson Plan Template
Pat Murtagh
Susan Unger
Learners: One MS special ed teacher, part-time
One school psychologist (MS/HS), part-time
Three MS special ed teacher, full-time
One Speech Language Pathologist (MS/HS), full-time
Three special ed teachers (HS), full-time
One special ed teacher (HS), part-time
Self: Creators of this project-based Inquiry include a speech pathologist and a science middle school teacher. We value communication and collaboration as a priority in education. We value and respect all staff members. We are seeking a way, through the use of digital initiatives, to optimize teamwork with a goal of implementing the mission of the school.
Context: Digital Common Planning Time (DCPT) is a concept that arose from a lack of communication and collaboration among the special education staff at Scituate Middle School/High School. Special Education staff members lacked common planning time, which resulted in the following problems:
Community: Scituate Middle and High Schools, located in one building in a rural setting
Purpose: Special education staff (faculty-learners) will improve common planning practices through the use of digital technology. Successful completion of Phase One of DCPT will include the following objectives:
Standards: Special education staff uses a universal mission statement as a standard for professional behavior. The mission statement addresses collaboration and communication as a method for accomplishing educational vision and student goals.
Scituate Middle & High School Mission Statement: Scituate Middle School is committed to producing life-long learners by providing all students and academically challenging integrated curriculum in partnership with the community within a safe and respectful environment while supporting their unique educational, physical, emotional and social needs.
TASK/ACTIVITY: Staff will be asked to
CONTENT: The traditional model of common planning time consists of scheduling blocks of time in which teachers collaborate with the purpose of ensuring best teaching practices. Budget constraints and scheduling difficulties with part-time and shared staff present a barrier for this goal. DCPT will be offered as a solution to this problem. After DCPT is implemented, it will be evaluated for effectiveness and ease of use. Digital tools listed above can be used as a supplement to existing common planning time as well as an alternative for staff members who are not included in common planning time periods.
PEDAGOGY:
ASSESSMENTS
Google Form will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of DCPT at the end of each quarter. All staff members will be asked to complete the survey on Google Form. Results of the survey will be compiled by Google analyze. Revisions to DCPT will be made if necessary.
dcpt evaluation